Today, many goods and services are offered for sale on the Internet. Consumers are provided with unprecedented product access. Also, sellers are provided with significantly increased market reach to consumers that were previously unreachable to them. However, as a result of increased access, where consumers in a conventional bricks-and-mortar shopping environment may have had only a single source from which to procure a single product to meet a certain need, consumers are now confronted with multiple sources of multiple products to meet that same need. Further, consumers commonly have access to products that may meet an unrealized need. Also, with so many products being offered, the task of finding a product of interest and learning about the availability of such products is becoming an evermore daunting task. What is also lost when shopping via the Internet is the ability to just browse the aisles where products are placed according to likely interest of consumers who would be in a certain aisle.
Consumers are faced with even more issues as a result of increased product and seller access. For example, consumers may not be aware of manufacturer or seller product quality and service reputations. The lack of such knowledge results in poor consumer experiences and reluctance to purchase goods and services from any Internet seller. Further, reputable manufacturers and sellers may lose sales to those who are less reputable. As a result, the integrity and health of the Internet marketplace and eventually consumers may lose their newly found options.
Sellers are also faced with unique issues. Product placement in brick-and-mortar stores has historically driven sales. However, products are not placed in the same manner in an electronic commerce environment. Within an Internet-based marketplace it is not as simple as placing flower pots next to house plants and sales inherently flow. Sellers, or the Internet marketplace, may have certain knowledge of consumers who are interested in their products, but Internet-based stores lack the ability to target such consumers while they are actively viewing the marketplace website.